Science Fiction, Fantasy, and More!

Monthly Archives: December 2010

Just in time for the holidays, two free stories and a poem have been posted on the freebies page of the Bad-Ass Faeries website. (Just click the link and you’ll be taken there!) You’ll find bad-ass faerie stories by Bernie Mojzes and C.S. Haviland and a poem about the Amazon Fae by yours truly. They’re in PDF format and may be downloaded for your reading leisure. A little further down the page, you can also download some cool desktop backgrounds for your computer.

I hope this holiday season finds you well and the new year brings you good health and much happiness.

My contributor copies of Science Fiction Trails #6 arrived at the house today. Unfortunately, I’m at Kitt Peak this week and won’t get to hold them in my hot little hands for a few days. Still, I’ve been looking forward to seeing this issue. It features my Western/Steampunk story “The Pirates of Baja”.

For those who have been following my progress on the novel Owl Dance and are curious about it, this story offers you a sneak peak. Not only is this a standalone short story, it’s also chapter 8 of the novel. In the story, Ramon Morales and Fatemeh Karimi find themselves looking for work in Los Angeles in 1877. Ramon finds a job as a gunslinger aboard a ship hunting pirates. Of course, Fatemeh isn’t likely to allow Ramon to have all the fun.

The story was inspired after I read Walter James Miller’s and Frederick Paul Walter’s wonderful translation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea published by the Naval Institute Press. After rediscovering Verne’s classic, I looked up real submarines of the period and learned about a Spanish submarine called the Ictineo II invented by Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol. In many ways, the real submarine Ictineo II was superior to Verne’s Nautilus. Among other things, the Ictineo II used a chemical reaction engine that produced oxygen. No other submarine like it was built until World War II. In the story, the pirates have built a submarine much like the Ictineo II and use it in their raids.

In addition to my story, you’ll also find stories by Lee Clark Zumpe, Laura Givens, James R. Strickland and many more. I’m looking forward to reading my copy and hope you’ll take a look at the issue as well. I’ve enjoyed every issue I’ve read of Science Fiction Trails. Copies are available at Amazon.com and direct from the publisher at ScienceFictionTrails.com.

I wanted to take a moment and let you know about a new ebook publisher that’s starting up. Mocha Memoirs Press is a venture of Nicole Givens Kurtz. I’ve known Nicole for a number of years and I’ve published her stories in Tales of the Talisman magazine. If you haven’t already, you should definitely check out her Cybil Lewis science fiction detective series. The first book is Silenced and the second book is Cozened.

So here’s the scoop. Mocha Memoirs Press is seeking submissions for their official launch in January 2011 and for early spring 2011.

Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC is a new electronic publishing company that seeks to add new flavors to the realms of speculative fiction and romance. Their primary website will go live January 2011, but they’re actively seeking submissions to add to their catalog before the launch. They’re inviting authors to submit works of 8k words and higher for possible publication in the catalog.

Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC wants to see titles that include excellent writing, superior storytelling, and fantastic creativity. They want their readers to lose themselves in the worlds the authors have created, and to care about the characters populating those worlds. Moreover, they’d like to see ethnic diversity in stories as well.

They are currently looking for titles in the following genres: horror, science fiction, fantasy, and romance. They’re most excited about seeing stories in the subgenres of cyberpunk, steampunk, near-future sf, and space opera.

Mocha Memoirs Press will publish paranormal romance, science fiction romance, fantasy romance, and dark fantasy romance. They’d like to see submissions in those areas as well. Their interracial romance titles have been very successful, so feel free submit those also.

Please keep in mind that although a new company, Mocha Memoirs Press is by no means accepting every submission or submissions that are poorly edited, offensive, crude, or sloppy. Please only submit your absolute best work. As a publisher, they’ll make sure you get the best from them in return. They have over 12 years of electronic publishing experience; so please don’t submit low quality or unprofessional work.

To submit your work to Mocha Memoirs Press, submit a cover letter, completed novel and synopsis/marketing history to mochamemoirspress (at) gmail.com. Remove the spaces and use the @ symbol in place of (at).

A Retrospective and Buyer’s Guide

2010 has been a good year for me. Five anthologies containing my stories have come out. Also, for those people who have been waiting for more of the Scarlet Order vampires, the wait is finally over. The first part of the Dragon’s Fall novella series, which tells the story of the Scarlet Order’s origin, has just been released.

Principally, I mean this post to be a recap of those places I have been published this year. If you follow this blog regularly, you’ll probably know about some of these books already. Others may be new to you because either they’re just out or they came out when I was busy moving this summer.

I present this retrospective as a “buyer’s guide” because it’s the holiday season, and I hope you’ll consider giving one or more of these books as gifts, or perhaps you’ll treat yourself to one. Remember, if you click on “David’s Library” to the right you can find all of my books that are in print.

If you’re on Goodreads or Shelfari, please consider adding at least one of these books to your “To read” shelf, even if you don’t buy right now. It’ll remind you about it later and your support is much appreciated.

One of the things that’s kind of interesting about this list is how it relates to a question I’m frequently asked: “What genre do you write?” After looking over this list, I think you’ll see why that’s not always a simple question to answer!

Without further ado, let’s begin with the newest book first…

For Paranormal Romance/Vampire fans:

Dragon’s Fall is a five-novella series based on my novel, Vampires of the Scarlet Order. Together these paranormal romances will create a complete story that begins in ancient Greece and culminates in 15th century Transylvania.

I decided to publish this under the name “D.L. Summers” for two reasons. First, I didn’t want new readers to come to the series and “hear” the writer. I wanted them to hear the characters. (Those of you who know me are probably stuck hearing my voice no matter what!) Second, while most of my works are fine for all ages, this one definitely is not. This is a book for adults only! Still, I didn’t want a pseudonym that was so different from my own name that it would confuse people who were already fans of the Scarlet Order vampires.

Bondage, the first book in the series, is set in Hellenistic Athens and tells the story of the slave Alexandra. Sold to Theron, a mysterious banker, she wonders about her new master who is never seen during the day. As time goes on, she notices that slaves called upon to serve Theron in his chamber in the night do not return the next morning.

When Alexandra’s turn comes, she learns Theron is a vampire who binds his slaves, takes his pleasure with them, then drinks their blood. She refuses to be a victim, but as she fights his embrace, Alexandra ingests some of Theron’s blood. Now a vampire herself, she becomes Theron’s concubine. Yet even as she learns the ways of the vampire, Alexandra yearns for freedom…

For Science Fiction Fans:

Some storytellers use the distant future as the setting to make fantastic extrapolations and to explore compelling ideas. In this volume, however, the writers look forward a mere decade and present stunning scenarios, reveal exciting possibilities and warn against the harrowing pitfalls that may lie just a few steps ahead of us. What will life be like ten years from now? Sixteen extraordinary writers offer their own mind-bending answers to that question, their spectacular 2020 Visions…

For Horror Fans:

Space Horrors is the fourth anthology of the Full-Throttle Space Tales series. It contains seventeen blood-chilling tales of vampires and ghouls in space, by established and rising-star authors.

I’ve spoken at some length about the book here at the Web Journal and hosted guest blogs by most of the authors. One way to learn more about all the great stuff in this book is simply to browse the posts in this journal back to September or so.

For Stampunk & Weird Western Fans:

Vampires robbing banks; a Werewolf Sheriff; Newfangled electric Zombies; Alchemists enslaving vampires; Ghosts posing for portraits. The west was never this wild. Saddle up for an adventure through a collection of horror and dark fantasy tales that will keep you turning the pages, though you might keep one eye peeled for any severed heads that might be rolling your way.

For Speculative Poetry Fans:

I was very honored this year to be nominated for the 2010 Rhysling Award. The Rhysling Award is presented to the best speculative poem in a given year. There are two categories. One for poems under 50 lines and one for poems 50 lines and over. This year’s Rhysling nominees included such people as Neil Gaiman, Bruce Boston, G.O. Clark and many more. If you know someone who likes both poetry and science fiction, it would be hard to go wrong with this book that presents the best speculative poetry of 2010.

For Urban Fantasy Fans:

Think all faeries spend their days picking flowers and dancing in circles? Think again! We bring you tales of urban conflict, of lurking assassins, of defenders of the home front. Eternal battles…between good and evil, right and wrong, Seelie and Unseelie…fought by timeless warriors whose battle cries echo throughout both history and legend. Discover fae fighting the good fight with every turned page. A WAC pilot and her leprechaun guardian get a bit of their own back in L. Jagi Lamplighter’s A Not-So-Silent Night. Refugee recruits from Daemor defend the base camp from gators and mongers in Patrick Thomas’s The Size of the Fight in the Solider. Elaine Corvidae treats us to a new glimpse of the realm of the Shadow Fae as an assassin stalks Pook, the Unseelie king on the Seelie throne, in Field of Honor. And in David Sherman’s The Price of Friendship a simple Nix gives Viking warriors a lesson in unconventional warfare. Each story in this collection follows a fine warrior-and fae-tradition. Protect your own, avenge your fallen, and put the bullies in their place. So get ready to declare your allegiance, because… By Land, Air, or Sea, the battle lines are drawn… Which side are you on?